The Big Short

The Big Short (2015)

**** (out of 4)

Four different groups of people notice that something isn't quite right with the housing market and soon make a large wager that the economy is going to fall apart.

Trying to sell America on a film that deals with a true story of the market collapse isn't the easiest thing to do and I must admit that I was shocked when THE BIG SHORT became a modest hit at the box office. I was even more shocked when I realized Adam McKay was the director behind this film but I was even more shocked at how wonderful he handled the material once the end credits started to roll. I mean, who thought that McKay would handle such a tricky story just like you'd expect Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese and Robert Altman?

I purposely used those three filmmakers to make my point. The Hitchcock connection comes from that director liking to let you know you're in danger and then he milks the suspense. THe same is done here as you know going into the movie that millions of Americans are going to lose their homes and their jobs so McKay lights the bomb at the start of the film and THE BIG SHORT just grows with tension leading up to the final collapse. The Altman connection is how McKay uses four different groups of people acting during the same period to build up to the conclusion. All four stories are all very interesting on their own and the director perfectly mixes them together and plays them well off of each other.

As for the Scorsese connection, there's a whole lot of creative style on display here and just look at the wonderful cinematography that pretty much throws you into the middle of these meetings and you almost feel as if you're listening and watching something that you're not supposed to be. The style also really shows off the various lifestyles and the wild nature of Wall Street. Scorsese had tackled the excess in THE WOLF OF WALL STREET, which would make a perfect double feature with this film. The score, the music selections and the dialogue just jump off the screen and perfectly create a world that most watching the film probably won't be a part of.

Of course, then there are the wonderful performances that bring these characters, the situations and the dialogue to life. Christian Bale, is there anything this guy can't do? He plays another weirdo here but is there anyone who does it better or more believable? Steve Carell plays perhaps the most troubled character here and the actor turns in the greatest performance of his career. Ryan Gosling's dry humor is perfect for the black comedy in the film and Brad Pitt is also extremely good even though he plays the most laid back character. Throw in Marisa Tomei, Melissa Leo, Rafe Spall, John Magaro and Finn Wittrock and you've got some of the best acting that you're going to see all year.

THE BIG SHORT left me a tad bit nervous the first ten minutes because I wasn't quite sure if it was going to be able to grab me and hold my attention throughout. After all, it's story is a confusing one that you have to keep up with but McKay does a marvelous job at using humor to get the more confusing parts across and it works perfectly. This is certainly a very intelligent film that gets its message across without having to scarifies the entertainment level. It's certainly a creative gem that actually works.

Nothing Small about "The Big Short"

"The Big Short" is based on the book with the same name by financial journalist Michael Lewis. It is about collateralized debt obligations, subprime mortgages, credit default swaps and bundling. A snoozer right? Not one bit. "The Big Short" is more entertaining than most films in the cineplex this holiday season. Even if you don't know much about the subprime mortgage crisis of 2007-08, you will recognize a quality film and want to know more about the world economic collapse when the film is over.

The film uses a multitude of techniques to tell the story. There are fourth-wall breaking monologues, a model in a bubble bath explaining economics as well as a singing idol and a celebrity chef using metaphors of cooking and gambling to explain the economic crisis. There are jump cuts, slow motion, foreshadowing and flash backs. The filmmakers use any and all tricks to explain a complicated mess of financial chicanery in order to help the audience understand. The banks, mortgage brokers, the credit ratings agencies and the government manipulated people in the nation and world into investing in worthless packages of bonds, and it behooves the director and writer, Adam McKay, to use all cinematic tricks to explain and untangle the financial corruption. The miracle is that the film deciphers the economic melt-down well while entertaining its audience.

The acting is stellar from the stars to the bit players. They aren't just playing a role, they embody characters during a remarkable time in history. My mother thinks Steve Carrell was the best actor in the film, for she did not even recognize him at first. He plays against character and she liked that. However, my mother had never seen Carrell in "The Office." His character, Mark Baum, is much like the boss from that television series. However, in "The Big Short", he plays it straight. He is a boss of a fund under the umbrella of Morgan Stanley (but it's not Morgan Stanley, and his team likes to point out), and he is on a mission to bring down banks, to show them up, and to prove he's been right about the financial warning signs. He is betting against the hand that feeds him, Morgan Stanley.

I preferred Christian Bale's performance as Michael Burry, an unselfconscious, manic math genius. I haven't seen that frightening look in Bale's eyes since "American Psycho", but this time he's only killing the mortgage backed securities market. Meanwhile, Brad Pitt, under- playing another disaffected former banker, Brad Rickert, helps two friends make millions while they bet against terrible investments, or "play short" the mortgage market. His backstory is revealed steadily and in a way that makes us wonder why he briefly got back into the investment "game." Even Ryan Gosling makes his mark in this star-studded cast playing the prescient "Jared Vennett." Remember, all the characters in the film are based on real people. And that is what makes it so remarkable.

The other major players in the film are Bear Stearns, Morgan Stanley, and a slew of investment houses who at best ignore the coming financial crisis or at worst, colluded in its creation. From the realtors selling the mortgages, to the banks loaning at subprime, to the banks bundling the worthless packages, they were all making too much money to want to stop. This is exactly the kind of over-exuberance that occurred in the 1920s stock market crash, but few payed attention then or in 2007.

"The Big Short" is a dramatized film of true events. And to make sure we understand, the actors break the fourth wall several times to tell us what part is true to the detail and what part is fictionalized to make it more dramatic. But if you are still incredulous, read the book. The events are all sadly true, and we are still paying for it.

Rating: Pay full price (but you might want to see it twice.)

It will take at least two viewings to catch half of what is embedded in this film. This film is entertaining, educational and relevant.

Peace, Tex Shelters

Great drama moves you. It excites you. Scares you. Makes you sing. Makes you cry.

The Big Short makes you shake your fist. The Big Short is driven as much by its Iago as it is its Othello, and deservedly so.

The events in the story did happen. Many people still don't care. The Big Short gives you reason to care. That is what separates this film from being merely a documentary and turns it into high drama.

No matter your politics - mark this, like Citizen Kane, as a movie that should be seen at least once. It is not always comfortable to watch. And that is a good thing - The Big Short is a documentary of a real life horror that unfolds in slow motion, and reminds us that even after the fact - no one is listening. Because truth is like poetry.

Don't know how Adam McKay made deplorable humans, blinding fear, gut-boiling outrage and gleeful shaming so much fun to watch. He brought along his bag o' laffs but planted them in such rich soil so we had to hack our way through the thick underbrush of tainted greenbacks and marked decks.

Everyone's in top form. Didn't recognize Brad Pitt for awhile. Ryan Gosling funniest. Christian Bale let us feel his pain and lonely genius. Steve Carell dug deep and came up with a real mensch.

Nice to see Marisa Tomei, Hamish Linklater, John Magaro, Rafe Spall, Finn Wittrock, Max Greenfield and talented others working at a solid level.

I walked out of the Westwood Bruin Theater in awe and mad as hell.

I have to admit that I don't understand all the intricacies of the bond markets that were being manipulated here. Whether one is a Wall Street maven or not isn't the issue. The fact is that people sold mortgages to others who had no business getting into them. I recall a 60 Minutes report on the bubble before the crash took place. The expert had them drive through a desert area, filled with enormous houses, all of which were in default. If one looked in the windows of these, you could see that some of the tenants had stripped all kinds of fixtures and walked away. There were two types of buyers, it seemed. Those that were trying for the fast buck and those that really had no clue what they were getting into. The balloon mortgages took them from affordable to bankruptcy. This was unsustainable and it wasn't long before the banks found themselves with armloads of houses and buyers with hopeless debt. The guys in the movie are aware, but, for the most part, aren't all that sympathetic to these foibles. They go in to make money and they manage to do it. The whole thing that overrides this entire film is that all the evidence was right there, but the greed of most of the parties supersedes all of that. I thought this was a fine movie with a superb lesson. To the new generation. You may not be entitled to have whatever you want without paying your dues.